Several of the players who have dominated the 12-and-under
nine-hole division of the Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour the last couple
of summers were key contributors to a Delaware 1 team that captured the PGA
Junior League Philadelphia Section Championship last Saturday at Cedarbrook
Country Club.
PGA Junior League is for 13-and-under youngsters playing in
trios in a scramble format with three three-hole segments for a total of nine
holes. It is a fast, fun format and some of the distance penalties involved in
a strict application of the Rules of Golf are waived to keep it that way.
Eight teams earned their way to Cedarbrook via qualifiers at
Newark Country Club and LedgeRock Golf Club Aug. 6.
The quarterfinals Saturday morning pitted North Philadelphia
vs. Jersey Shore, Huntingdon Valley Country Club vs. Delaware 1, Lancaster 1
vs. York 2 and Flourtown vs. Penn State on Cedarbrook’s back nine.
Delaware 1 took on Jersey Shore and Penn State battled
Lancaster 1 in the semifinals on Cedarbrook’s front nine. Michael Maslanka,
playing out of Rock Manor Golf Club, punctuated Delaware 1’s victory with a
hole-in-one, his 9-iron at the 120-yard ninth hole at Cedarbrook ending up in
the bottom of the cup.
Delaware 1, under PGA captain Dave Seeman, edged Penn State,
under PGA captain Steve Wager, 7-5, to advance to the Mid-Atlantic Regional
Sept. 15 and 16 back at LedgeRock.
It appears Seeman is involved with the junior golf program
at Hartefeld National, which is not in Delaware, but you can see the First
State from some of the higher elevations of the course in New Garden Township,
Chester County.
Five of the members of the Delaware 1 team came through
Seeman’s junior program at Hartefeld National, including Win Thomas, Nicholas
Gross, Adrian Jordan, Matthew Normand and Henry Stone.
Thomas’ rise through the Junior Tour ranks has been nothing
short of meteoric. Gross dominated the nine-holers this summer and Normand was
the Sam Penecale Scoring Average Leader among the nine-holers for the 2016-’17
campaign.
Maslanka is joined on the roster by another Rock Manor
entry, Zac Antao. Rounding out the Delaware 1 team are Wilmington Country
Club’s Jack Homer, who has had some strong Junior Tour showings this summer,
and Jax Puskar of Kennett Square Golf & Country Club.
The winner of the Mid-Atlantic Regional at LedgeRock will
advance to the PGA Junior League Championship, presented by National Car
Rental, Nov. 16 to 19 at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz.
The Royce Brook All-Stars have dominated the Mid-Atlantic
Regional, winning it four straight times. Last year Royce Brook reached the
final at Grayhawk before falling to a team from Georgia.
Anthony Latham, the PGA Director of Junior Development at
Royce Brook Golf Club in north-central New Jersey, has been the PGA captain of the
Royce Brook All-Stars. Like Philadelphia champion Delaware 1, last year’s Royce
Brook All-Stars featured several Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour
standouts, including Joshua Ryan, who made it to the PIAA Class AAA
Championship as a freshman representing Norristown High last fall.
It will be interesting to see if the Royce Brook All-Stars are
at LedgeRock for the Mid-Atlantic Regional, although Ryan and several of the
other standouts from last year’s team are no longer eligible.
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